Nextel

Nextel is a cellular service provider long known as being either loved or hated. They are the originator of the half-duplex “direct-connect” cellular service that seems to draw equal amounts of admiration and scorn. The half-duplex direct-connect was pioneered as an efficient way of saving significant amounts of telecommunications bandwidth by allowing data transfer to occur in bandwidth segments that normally go unused in a full-duplex connection. Thus NEXTEL subscribers have the option of chirping instead of calling to save money. Nextel is also known for their robust line of Motorola cellular products that seem impervious to any and all damage and neglect by their owners. Nextel has gained great notoriety in offering some of the most indestructible phones on the market today, with some models featuring water-resistance. Although some do criticize them for their added bulk in comparison to smaller, yet more fragile, products on the market. Contractors and construction workers typically enjoy the aforementioned direct-connect feature as it allows them to engage in hastened conversations to obtain necessary information without having to endure the customary pleasantries common in normal telephone conversations. Other people tend to hate direct-connect, seeing it as a modernized form of passing verbal notes through class in elementary school. The fact that the direct-connect feature causes immediate voice transmission at the destination of the signal causes further complications with use. If a transmitter were to send a message to a direct-connect receiver at an inopportune moment, it very well has the ability to become a serious boon to the receiver. One can imagine the stark differences in implications of a cellular phone accidentally ringing during a meeting compared to someone shouting an unexpected inane blabbering while in a professional workplace setting. Because of this, most Nextel users limit the use of direct-connect to only close friends, family, and associates as it is gravely annoying when the wrong person “chirps” you at the wrong time and place. Although NEXTEL is not the ideal service provider for all, they have succeeded in becoming the industry leader in certain demographics of cellular subscribers.